Суд над Бхагавад-гитой / Attempt to ban Bhagavad-gita

bhajana/sankirtananandi practically manifesting the pure
attributes of an acarya, who clearly ascertains, follows, and,
from the realized position, propagates the scriptural
conclusions, as per the decisions of the previous Acaryas, is to
be considered a truly viable link in the sampradaya’s disciplic
succession. There really can be no feasible makeshift or stopgap
“blind uncle” vicar. Disciplic succession means from acarya to
acarya or Acaryas, not from acarya to umpteen gazillion
blockheads who, being too spiritually gutless to grasp the
recognized esoteric method of unalloyed devotional realization,
prefer to parade about, presumably on the plea of para-upakara,
preaching any retarded shabby so-called philosophy that
blunderbusses out from their internally bankrupt, institutionally
bamboozled, busy-bodying brainlessness.

Just as the series of crystal-clear lenses of a telescope
brings a distant image within the purview of our eyes, in the
same way, a sampradaya’s transcendental heritage is brought
into the scope of our understanding through a transparent
medium, the chain of pure and spiritually potent
representatives of the acarya-parampara. Dusty, foggy, flawed,
warped, or impotent lenses will not do. A chain is as clear and
reliable as its faultiest lens. To act as transparent medium
means to allow others to clearly perceive the descending
radiance of the bhagavata-siddhanta by purely exemplifying the
perfect application of the principles of bhagavata-dharma (as
per sambandha-abhidheya-prayojana-vicara) on the basis of
scriptural evidence and personal attainment. acarya, in the
Gaudiya line, really means one who is fully Krishna conscious,
who purely teaches the path of unalloyed devotional conduct
(both external and internal) by personally imbibing and
practically demonstrating the unalloyed, unconditional loving
devotional ideals of a Vrajavasi. Whether a nitya-siddha avatara
appears in this world as an acarya, or a sadhana-siddha, having
attained perfection in a previous life, is reborn by the will of the
Lord to act as acarya in the service of the sampradaya, or one or
more individuals in the present life gain the spiritual fitness to
exemplify the principles of vraja-prema-dharma for the benefit of
others, the role of sampradayic acarya is not a matter of


purity, and where there is purity coupled with
realized siddhanta-based raga-mayi unalloyed devotional
expression, rubber-stamping or no rubber-stamping, there we
may hope to see the actual current of the sampradaya.
institutional rubber-stamping. There’s no question of
institutional rubber-stamping. The rubber-stamping of gurus is,
in fact, quite against the principles of sampradaya. It indicates
neither purity nor high-caliber Krishna consciousness. There
actually has to be

No amount of institutional legislation has ever in the past
ensured that the budding disciples will not get any other than
sad-guru, nor does such presently offer any reasonable
assurance to that effect, nor can such ever feasibly promise a
foolproof approach to sad-guru in the future. Glaring testimony
of this statement rests in the much-less-than-unblemished post-
founder-acarya institutional track record. What more need be
said? One gets sad-guru by the grace of God. Having
accumulated suitable sukriti by lifetimes of inadvertent contact
with agents of bhakti, a fortunate jiva becomes inclined toward
the service of the Absolute. When Krishna, who is seated as
Paramatma within the heart, directing the wanderings of every
living entity since time immemorial, deems one the object of His
mercy, then only, by His arrangement, is it possible for one to
get the feet of sad-guru – not otherwise. By the mercy of
Krishna, one gets guru, and by the mercy of a genuinely
elevated Vaishnava guru, one gets Krishna. The institutional
rubber-stamping of guru as well as the recurrently observed
herding of unsuspecting fledgling devotional candidates into
institutionally endorsed liaison with chic-awash, locally lionized,
ecclesiastically rubber-stamped guru figure-heads simply boasts
of a preposterously overestimated shot at managerially
manipulating, governing, or meddling with the entirely
independent will of the Absolute. In reality, though, God’s will is
quite beyond the grip of any theocracy’s ostensibly ironclad
administrative edicts. Those who are God-sanctioned to get the
feet of sad-guru will definitely succeed by dint of Providence’s
inscrutable transcendental system – even without the “aid” of
materially concocted religio-legislative contrivances. And,
despite all the well-intended precautionary legislation, those not


destined to get sad-guru in the present life, though associated
with one or another preaching organization, will be frustrated
time and again, even after repeated futile attempts. Of this there
is ample precedence. The shining example of devotees
authentically empowered by Krishna-shakti to undeviatingly
represent the teachings of the predecessor Acaryas will itself
suffice to satisfy all institutional requirements. Aspiring
sampradayic adherents need only be siddhantically edified and
alerted as to the standard shastric criteria for ascertaining the
fitness of guru. That much institutional governance is legitimate.
Deviants and imposters will automatically be shunned and fall
into disrepute. No amount of artificially imposed ecclesial
governance in the matter of guru appointment under any
clumsy pretext can change for half a hair-breadth the God-
sanctioned progress of a jiva’s sojourn through eternal time. To
advocate otherwise on the plea of administrative safeguard and
quality-control is to indecorously vaunt one’s lack of faith in the
inescapable will of the Supreme and the Acaryas’ actual
instructions concerning the principles of disciplic succession.

It is not enough to proficiently engage the unapprised, sub-
devotional, ass-like neophytes in preliminary sub-religious
purificatory processes. Outwardly epitomizing the strict
adherence to rudimentary vaidhi devotional codes of conduct
alone is not sufficient to qualify anyone as an acarya in the real
sense. Certainly the bona fide bhagavata-acarya has the
enormous task of gradually uplifting two-legged animals to a
reasonable semblance of religious life, but the onus does not
culminate in merely instituting semi-devotional or obligatory
devotional regimentation on the foundation of stereotyped
external religious formulae. An acarya must have the fitness to
elevate the disciple to the pinnacle of ultimate raga-mayi
spontaneous devotional perfection. He himself must exemplify
the standard of unalloyed devotional perfection as inspirational
living proof that the process of rupanuga-bhajana actually
works, that transcendence or divine consciousness is practically
achievable. A language instructor does not merely teach his
students the alphabet. There’s also spelling, grammar,
composition, style, syntax, and so forth. Similarly, a bona fide


sampradayic agent must be competent to offer advanced
instruction to further enlighten the more eligible graduate and
post-graduate disciples. A disciple could hardly hope to reach
the stage of para bhakti for the attainment of life’s ultimate
objective under a neophyte’s insufficient guidance. The velocity
of a disciple’s pure devotional progress is an individual affair,
contingent upon preexisting and presently acquired types and
levels of shraddha. It is not the duty of an acarya to hinder the
advancement of a progressive student by insisting upon the
latter’s exclusive confinement to the regulative principles of
vaidha-sadhana. With all due respect, vaidhi bhakti, being
considerably encumbered and constrained under the sway of
aishvarya-jnana (knowledge of Krishna’s supremacy) and
encroached upon by scriptural injunctions together with
argument, intellection, analysis, and ascription, is not real
bhakti. It is not para bhakti or kevala-bhakti in the real sense.
Unless one comes to the platform of para bhakti, one’s devotion
to guru and Krishna cannot be considered real. Vaidhi bhakti as
applied in the context of Rupanuga Vaisnavism serves only as a
threshold to the house of real bhakti. It is merely a rudimentary
apprenticeship, meant to offer the kanistha-adhikaris a
preliminary footing on the devotional path. It is not that we are
to remain indefinitely on the prakrita platform as life-long
kanistha-adhikaris with no higher superlative devotional idea.
Bhakti that is characterized by the unconditional endeavor to
please Krishna, to love Him because His personality is so
unlimitedly enchanting and lovable, simply because He is the
way He is, the sweetest of all sweets, regardless of whether or
not He is, in fact, the Supreme Personality of Godhead – that is
real bhakti. Real bhakti, para bhakti, is none other than raga-
mayi spontaneous devotion, and raganuga-sadhana-bhakti is
unarguably a necessary bridge to the plane of spontaneous
raga-mayi realization.

Real bhakti is solely the prerogative of the raga-bhakta.
Any expression of devotion to guru and Krishna not based on
raga cannot be accepted as a real devotional expression,
because the devotion on which the expression is based is not
actually real devotion. It is obligatory, fear-impelled ritualistic


devotion, which does not lend itself to the natural, free-flowing
spontaneous loving attraction of the heart toward the
confidential service of Krishna and His dearest devotees. The
acarya may graciously hear and accept a neophyte disciple’s
relatively sincere but rather sentimental childish glorifications
to encourage his disciple’s gradual devotional progress.
Moreover, an aging kanistha-adhikari posing as an intimate
associate of the acarya may naturally take pride in nostalgically
reminiscing about the guru’s past inter-personal dealings, as far
as a tenaciously life-long neophyte’s paltry perception of reality
permits. Yet unless and until one comes to the pure cognition of
one’s ultimate internal raga-mayi relationship with sad-guru, in
consonance with the intrinsic nitya-dharma of the soul as an
eternal denizen of Vraja-dhama, any air of allegiance to or
appreciation of the acarya, the acarya-parampara, or the
acarya’s sampradayic legacy must be considered relatively
petty, shallow, or superficial. As such, apart from the unalloyed
devotee established on the platform of para bhakti or real,
spontaneous raga-mayi devotion, no one would be accepted as a
perfect and complete siddhantically comprehensive and very
real representative of the Rupanuga-sampradaya. Delineation of
the principles of vaidhi bhakti constitutes merely a tiny fraction
of Shri Caitanya’s teachings. If one does not pursue the path of
real devotion, raga-bhakti, and if one does not purposely
endeavor in the course of one’s preaching to encourage others
to surpass the kanistha stage, to upgrade to the path of raga-
bhakti, then it cannot be said that one is viably representing the
tenets of the Gaudiya-sampradaya. To genuinely represent the
Gaudiya-sampradaya as per the principles of rupanuga-dharma,
one must, through the process of extensive hearing about
Krishna’s vraja-lilas and all relevant topics, from the stage of
shravana-dasha, first allow oneself to become attracted to the
sweetest prospect of realizing an intimate relationship with
Vrajendra-nandana Krishna. Then, with intense greed, great
enthusiasm, strong conviction, and one-pointed determination,
one must, following one’s own intrinsic inclination toward one of
the vraja-bhavas, transcend the conditional, vidhi-dependent
kanistha-adhikara and come to the position of firmly embracing


the principles of raganuga-sadhana-bhakti from the stage of
acceptance (varana-dasha) in the madhyama-adhikara. By deep
internal cultivation, characterized by intensified hearing,
chanting, and increasingly constant recollection of Radha and
Krishna’s names, forms, qualities, and pastimes, one can verily
gain the appropriate raga-mayi-bhava as one’s sadhya (apana-
dasha). Then, as a bhavuka or premika maha-bhagavata, from
the realized position, having attained the desired outcome
(sadhya), namely spontaneous loving devotion based on raga or
attraction to the beauty and sweetness of Krishna in His loving
dealings with the Vrajavasis, one can powerfully propagate the
bhagavata-siddhanta in such a way as to positively inspire
adequately fortunate conditioned souls to abandon all
occupations save and except the cultivation of loving service to
the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna on the basis of the
attractiveness of the vraja-lilas and the superlative nature of the
principles of supra-mundane raga. To say nothing of the true
function of various illustrious institutions established on behalf
of the Gaudiya-sampradaya, ultimately, the total material
creation is an institution set up simply to directly and indirectly
facilitate a few fortunate souls’ eventual highest attainment of
the vraja-lilas. To preach raga-marg-bhakti, the path of vraja-
bhakti-bhajana, to the world via the prema-nama-sankirtana
movement of Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is to effectuate the
purpose of the entire creation.

If neophyte devotees cannot at least begin to appreciate
the elementary example of compassion toward others, as shown
by Prahlada Maharaja’s expressed anxieties for the fools of this
external realm, then how could we expect them to fathom the
ocean of premika compassion abounding in the topmost
devotees’ transmundane eroticism in the supreme realm of
Vraja? Can a kindergarten pupil understand calculus or
trigonometry? It is necessary for the externally oriented novices
to observe the principle of compassion directed externally
toward the realm easily identifiable to them owing to their own
horrific experiences of material entanglement. Then it may be
possible for them to gradually come to recognize and serve the
superlative, internally applied aspect of the same principle,


appreciable only from a platform of considerable purification.
That is an indispensable part of our basic training. In that sense,
for a novice, earnest engagement in the Lord’s external
preaching mission under rudimentary rules and regulations may
certainly function as a prerequisite for future high-grade internal
bhajana. If, however, one does not intelligently come to the
position of meticulously culturing the internal raganuga-bhava,
then preaching Krishna consciousness remains for the most part
an external affair, a kind of showbottle-ism in the name of
Krishna consciousness. The put-on sankirtana smile may appear
to be temporarily useful in the matter of eliciting an immediate
favorable response from a naive or good-natured audience, but
unless one is actually blissful, having achieved the ananda-maya
status of apana-dasha, attaining the genuine experience of one’s
constitutional spiritual sthayi-bhava as a result of spiritual
trance (samadhi), one’s make-show preaching won’t effectively
generate in others the ruci required to sustain long-term pure
devotional service on the basis of powerfully inculcated spiritual
substance. Nor will it directly foster the preacher’s own ultimate
premika absorption in the moods of Vraja.

It is often rabidly sermonized that “Higher than living in
Vrindavana for one’s personal benefit is to leave Vrindavana for
the benefit of others,” the conclusion naturally being
“Therefore, get out of Vrindavana and PREACH!” Placing the
lotus feet of my spiritual master upon my humbled head, I dare
to offer a few of my observations in this connection. It should be
obvious to any sober-minded devotee that the acarya’s
instructions to this end stand not as a mandate to abandon the
Vrindavana “comfort zone” but rather as a directive to abandon
the self-centeredness of pursuing one’s personal benefit
(material or spiritual) while neglecting the practical cultivation
of the adi-vrajavasis’ sublime para-upakara mood of helping
others become spiritually enriched. Once again, it is the
attitude, the consciousness more so than the action, that is
under scrutiny. Because the endeavor to benefit others is based
on a higher selfless devotional mind-set than performance of
devotional service simply for one’s personal gain, the former,
whether done in or out of the dhama, would in principle


naturally ascend to a markedly more elevated platform. It would
serve us well to remember that our guru-maharaja, Srila A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, after having spent nine
preparatory years in Vrindavana, went out to benefit the people
of the western world as a fully self-realized spiritual master; not
as a “fake it till you make it” relatively unimpressive, struggling
neophyte of a superficially polished cyber-preacher, having little
if any actual cognition, by way of divine revelation, as to the
details regarding his highest potential vraja-svarupa. For the
most part, we have seen over the years that many devotees of
every rank, for diverse reasons, tend to leave, nay, rather flee
from Vrindavana, not for powerfully preaching Krishna
consciousness all over the world, but for pursuing their various
personal and extended personal material requirements. I do not
prefer to expand very much upon this point, for fear of
drastically increasing the bulk of this book. Suffice to say, on
account of maintaining sundry gross and subtle material
attachments, one would certainly be deprived of the actual
internal experience of the dhama even while residing here.
Would it not then be rather presumptuous to expect that the
mere semblance of a devotee, incapable of uttering shuddha-
nama, is in any way fit to establish any more than a mere
semblance of the Vrindavana atmosphere anywhere outside the
dhama? Flying and flying around and around the world on the
plea of supposedly preaching Krishna consciousness or
(mis)managing institutional affairs in and of itself does not
necessarily constitute, in the highest sense, “the benefit of
others” any more than living in Vrindavana necessarily adds up
to merely “one’s own benefit.” Nowhere in the teachings of the
Acaryas is it suggested that it is impossible to reside in
Vrindavana for the benefit of others. In fact, real Vrindavana life,
as exemplified by the Six Gosvamis, means to voluntarily accept
painstaking austerities in devotional service for the benefit of
others.

Shastra has it that fifty percent of a disciple’s devotional
merit automatically goes to the guru’s account, even without the
disciple’s conscious offering. If the disciple consciously
sacrifices on behalf of the spiritual master, both the disciple and


the guru achieve one hundred times the result of the proffered
devotional austerities. It would be the guru’s greatest asset to
have serious, hard-working, sacrificial-minded, lazy-intelligent
rupa-sanatananuga disciples serving to reveal the pure cult of
Vrindavana to the world from the transcendental seat of
Vrindavana or Shri Dhama Mayapura where the result of such
para-upakara preaching work towers a thousand times over and
above that which is achieved by the same preaching done
anywhere else in the world – for the beneficiaries and
benefactors alike. Yes, we should all agree that it is higher to
leave Vrindavana for the benefit of others than to stay in
Vrindavana for one’s own benefit, but who says Vrindavana life
is meant to be for one’s own benefit? Krishna’s gopas and gopis
of Vraja, whose immaculate selfless moods of devotion we are to
emulate, never for a moment consider their own benefit. Their
every endeavor is to sacrifice for the service of others – the
service of Krishna; the service of Radha; the service of Her
friends and maidservants; and the service of Nanda-Yashoda,
Balarama-Shridhama-Subala, Raktaka-Patraka, and the rest.
They come to this Earth planet to do the highest good to others
by generously attracting the conditioned souls to the beauty
and sweetness of their intimate highest para-upakara moods of
loving service demonstrated in the course of the vraja-lils. They
are not misers; nor are their genuine representatives, coming in
disciplic succession.

The simple truth is that achievement of the highest self-
sacrificing moods of the Vrajavasis, whether done within or
beyond the physically manifest boundaries of Vraja-mandala,
requires one’s meticulous assimilation of their consummate
para-upakara loving service attitude. Practical internal
solidification of the spirit of that broad-minded, most
considerate devotional temper is immensely supported by loud
sankirtana of Krishna’s Holy Name. Indeed, favorably assisting
the acarya’s preaching mission anywhere in the world can
certainly help one to get a foothold in the progressive
cultivation of the topmost bhavas of Vraja when done with a
proper conception of the internal counterpart vraja-lila feature
of the externally directed preaching principle. Still, it is not at all